On February 8, the Idaho House passed HB 391 by a vote of 56-12. It abolishes the state’s presidential primary, and takes effect this year. The primary is set for May 15.

Assuming the bill passes the Senate and is signed into law, 2012 will be the first year since 1972 that Idaho has not had a presidential primary. The rationale for abolishing it this year is that the Democratic and Republican Parties are holding caucuses to choose the delegates, and therefore the presidential primary is not binding. But, of course, presidential primaries do have influence on public opinion, even when they aren’t being used to select delegates. The Missouri presidential primary of February 7 is evidence of that.